In a typical shopping experience, the average shopper uses hand propelled shopping carts or shopping carts to transport items the shopper wishes to purchase. Ordinarily a shopper places household items, produce, or meat products into the shopping cart, conveys the items to a checkout counter, then removes the items from the cart for purchase. The shopper may then leave the shopping cart at the store location for use by subsequent shoppers, who may also use the cart to transport items as described above.
A typical shopping cart may be used multiple times in a single day by a plurality of shoppers. In some instances, the items placed in the shopping cart may leave an infectious residue, such as blood, mucus, urine, saliva, chemicals, pesticides or the like, on the cart's surface or in the cart's basket. The residue is often left on the cart during each use, thereby causing the residue to build up over time.
Occasionally, a shopper may have a communicable illness, which may be easily transferred to the cart and possibly to any subsequent shoppers. It is well known that disease agents are passed or vectored from infected individuals to other individuals directly, through body contact, or indirectly, through contact with objects that have come into body contact with infected individuals. While disease agents such as the cold virus typically do not remain infectious outside of the human body for more than a few hours because of drying or desiccation, many similar viruses will remain active outside of the body for up to six hours in moist conditions and up to four hours in dry conditions. There are also many bacterial disease organisms that may be transferred directly or indirectly and that may be infectiously viable for considerably longer periods of time. For example, some strains of staphylococcus and streptococci bacteria are quite resistant to drying and thus remain infectious for long periods of time. Indeed, staphylococcus aureus has achieved considerable notoriety as a so-called nosocomial, or hospital, infectant—one that is frequently spread in hospitals as well as in other environments via objects that come into contact with susceptible individuals.
In some instances many shoppers pay less attention to their personal hygiene than might be desirable. Even fastidiously clean individuals may unwittingly transfer disease organisms to others via the handles of hand-propelled carts. Some members of the public recognize this danger and are loathe to touch the handles of hand-propelled carts. Indeed, parents have begun to recognize that it may be detrimental for their children to chew or teethe on cart handles (not an uncommon occurrence).
The pathogens associated with illnesses may be transferred from the shopper to the shopping cart during normal cart usage. As such, when a subsequent shopper uses the cart, the subsequent shopper may contract the illness as well.
In the instance where the shopping cart is used to transport the items into the parking lot area, the cart may additionally be soiled by dirt and debris (e.g., gum, oil, transmission fluid, gasoline, etc.) cast onto the cart from, for example, the parking lot surface.
The pathogens, debris and residue discussed above may be called “contaminants” herein. Typically, a shopping cart may be in use for many years without the contaminants being removed. A study done by the University of Arizona Microbiology Department tested areas of shopping carts, which are most often contacted by the shopper or articles transported in the shopping cart. The test conducted involved analyzing swab samples retrieved from the shopping carts to determine the presence of any foreign organic matter. The results of the study suggested that a full fifty-four percent of the shopping carts contained harmful contaminants. As such, a need exists for a system and method for protecting the average shopper from the health danger associated with using shopping carts during their shopping experience.
One such system which is used is the Clean Shopper® baby/toddler shopping cart seat cover sold by Babe Ease, LLC of Pelham, N. H. The Clean Shopper® cover is a re-usable cotton, quilted shopping cart cover that fits over the entire front portion of the shopping cart (e.g. child transport areas), which is ordinarily used to seat and transport an infant or small child. The child is seated on the Clean Shopper® cover during cart usage. In this way, a toddler may be seated in the shopping cart without being exposed to the cart's contaminated surface.
One drawback to the Clean Shopper° cover is that the cotton or quilted material from which it is constructed is porous. As such, the Clean Shopper® cover is prone to having the contaminants transferred to the Clean Shopper® cover from the shopping cart's surface during each use, thereby contaminating the Clean Shopper® cover. Another drawback is that the Clean Shopper cover does not cover the entire shopping cart. Thus, the contaminants which are present in the cart's basket, for example, may be transferred to the items transported on the basket's surface.
Consequently, a need exists for a system and method which protects the shopper and the articles or persons transported by the shopping cart from contaminates which may exist on portion of a shopping cart's surface.